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Glam Rock vs. Grunge Rock Politics

On January 20, 1983, Def Leppard released Pyromania, on March 31, 1992, they released Adrenalized. The time period from Pyromania to Adrenalized the best music in the history of the world was made. It reached its peak in August of 1987 with the release of Hysteria, if you do not believe me, watch the movie “Rock of Ages”. What does this have to do with politics you may ask? Hold on, I am getting there.

The 1990’s saw a much different style of music, the Seattle Sound. These bands were everything that glam rock was not. They hated everything about the glam era and made it a point to say that they were the Never Glam Movement. Fast-forward to 2018, glam bands are still selling out arenas, have a die-hard fan base and have found a way to bring in younger audiences. Most of the 90’s bands have long broken up and except for Pearl Jam, I cannot think of a single Seattle sound band that is relevant today. But seriously, what does that have to do with politics?

Glam Rock was its own thing, it was something. Grunge Rock was mostly defined by what it was not, it was not Glam. Being a Never Trump organization is fine, it will get you followers and some traction, it cannot and will not ever have a long-term impact because it is not something on its own, it is defined by what it is not. Simply being against Donald Trump is not enough, if we want to make a lasting impact, we need to be for something, not simply against it.

We also have to have an understanding that while the goals must all be the same, the approach can vary. It is ok to have a different point of view and a different ideology and still have the same goals. I am a Conservative Democrat, I make no apologies for that, but I also understand that my more Progressive and even Socialist members bring a perspective that adds to the choir, it does not make it less. We stand for something; we are not defined by simply being against Trump.

What is it that we stand for?

We believe that science is real and that the environment matters

We believe that workers and consumers are actual people with rights and protections, they are not a simple by-product of capitalism

We believe that unless all of us are free and all of us have opportunity then none of us are free and none of us have opportunity

How we choose to express these goals will vary, priorities will be in conflict at times, misunderstandings will happen. I remain confident that our goals are the right ones and that we will prevail. When this politically turbulent time has passed and we return to “regular order” as John McCain called it, we will be a better nation than when we started. We are destined to be the Glam Rock of politics, still bringing it more than 30 years later.

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